Method of making alpha road tool



Oct. 10, 1933. J, e TuLLls 1,929,660

METHOD OF MAKING A ROAD TOOL Filed July 30, 1932 j N E671? INVENTOR $51 573 6? 23514 5 L404 y giw/ A TTORNEY 7 MEtrHonoFMAKING ARoAD'TooL,

FJasper 'Tullis, Cleveland," Ohio, 'assignor lto The Cleveland Formgrader' Companygf cleve- J g 51. 1 land, 0hio,a corporation 'of Ohio V r lAlipliatien; July 30,. 1932'. fs iar llvo. tzcae f.

' "diClaim s; (curs- 101) 1 This invention relates to a straight edge for templet for gauging hard surface roadways and thelike and isia continuation in part of my copendingapplication SenNo'. 531,049, filed Apri'l 18,1931; As there more fully described' in' the.

construction of concrete and otherpaved roadway surfaces for high speedv vehicularv traffic,

much greater precision to regularity and smoothness of the pavement surface is required,

and oneof the principal :objects of the present) invention is the provi'sionof a straight edge or templet having'a true and precisegauging face for .gaugingmore accurately suchpavement surface as'th'e surfacing material is being spread.

Another object is to provide a straight edge,

the gauging "face of Y which will-retain'an accurate configuration when subjected to rough.

usage and to various extremes of temperature.

Another object is to' provide a folded sheet metal straight edgehaving a gauging face of which the entire surface lies in thesame plane and contains noneof thesurface depressions or irregularities common to rolled sheet'metal;

Still-another object resides in the-method of forming a gauging face of the desiredshape on a folded sheet metal gaugin'gtool. 7

"Other objects and features of "the invention- ,will become apparent from the following description, wherein reference ismade to the draw- 'In the'drawing, Fig. 1 isa perspective view',

. of one form of the'tool-embodying the princithe result produced by the step illustrated in :the line 55 thereof, and

ples' 'of the present invention; v

Fig. 2.71s a perspective view of'asheet suitable for forming the tool illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig."-3jis' a diagrammatic perspective view illustrating one step in the method of forming the gauging surface-of the tool;

'Fig. 4 is an enlarged diagrammatic perspective View of the sheet metal stock, illustrating Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is asectional view of the tool illustrated in Fig. 1 and is taken on a plane indicated by Figs. 6 and 7 are, respectively, diagrammatic sectional views illustrating a modified method of forming the gauging surface of the tool and the modified form of tool resulting therefrom.

4 Referring to Fig. 1, which illustrates a'straight edge tool embodying the principles of the present invention, the tool comprises a head 1 to which is attached a handle 2, the handle being of sufficient length to enable the operator to stand at vone edge of the pavement and position the straight edge. slightly-. 'past the: center .v thereof H Thehandle 2 and the body larei-preferablymade of. aluminum so as to: render them .as-light as. possible and toreduce-stresses.due-to changes nt a e, r \260 One general use. of .the tool; andthe mannero folding the metalto-formhthesame are fully described inv myscopending. application,..above I identined. As there more fully-.described, the

body l-may be formedfroma rolled strip 011 5;

nally and transversely of the face; .of the.- strip. When such a strip is folded, as dBSQI'ibBdfiIl-HlY-CO:

pendingapplication, to form a-straight edg,e,.many of these depressions are of such Width-thatthey extend entirely across the gauging face. ;Conse-' quently, when the finished straightedgeor tem v plet is placed against 'a-master. gauge,-a consid-ggq erable amountof light canbe seen between the gauging surfaces. of the two. Under mostipresent day roadw y specifications; this isa-objectionable andiastraight'edge' showing-lightWwhen placed 7 against themastergauge, is TEEjGCtGdJ-fOT'. use. f @851 Another objection to the use ofvcommercial. rolled sheet metal resides .in: the fact: that. the

rolling of thematerial compactstheaareas surrounding these depr essions to agreater degreethan the .depressedareas'themselves' and sets 41;):90

internal stresses. Consequently, when the. metal is exposed. togdiiferent 1 degrees 7 of -.'temperature, i thereis a tendency for it to warp and twist due to the resulting internal stresses being unevenly distributed. In order to eliminate these 5;

depressions andirregularities and to compact the metal to a more even and uniform degree over the entiresurface so as to overcome both of the above objections, the present method of forming the gauging surface of the straight edge from the strip stock maybe used. 1

According to this method, which is illustrated in Fig. 3, the sheet is placed between a suitable female die Sand complementary male die'6 and is impacted thereby under heavy pressurethus 165.

forming a longitudinal central portion of the strip into agauging surface and partiallyfolding the strip to form the hollow bodyl. The face '7 of the female die is a precise and accurate smooth plane surface ora smooth accurate surface of 110.

Referring to Fig. 4, the metal of the portion of.

the sheet which has been compressed between the dies is caused to fiow as indicated by the arrows 10. This action presses out the depressions. 4 and other irregularities; indicated by the dotted line in Fig. 4, so that the gauging surface 11 of the sheetengaged by the female die is made to conform accurately with the surface '7 of the die over.

its entire length and width. This action also effects the setting of the metal as it relieves the internal stresses in the'metal resulting from the rolling operation and effects an even and regular distribution of stresses resulting from compression by the dies. Consequently, the gauging face-not only conforms to the configuration of the face 7 of the die 5, but also will maintain such formation. The longitudinal ribs 12, formed by this corrugating operation, reinforce the gaug- 3o5ing face of the strip and reduce the tendency warp longitudinally. When the sheet is corrugated in this manner, it will withstand great changes in temperature without warping or stressing due to internal strains and will also withstand rough gfp'l'usage in practical use. After the gauging face hasbeen'formed, as describedthe margins are bent inwardly and then upwardly,- as more fully described in 'my copendingapplication, to form a fiange or rib 14 4(1Eof two thicknesses of the metal stock, the margin along one side of the sheet being folded over the upper end of the margin of the opposite side'of the sheet, as indicated at 15, for securing the two margins in juxtaposition. In this manner, a i3rigid hollow body with a longitudinal reinforcing rib is provided, the gauging surface of which is set to a very precise and accurate configuration. Referring nowto Figs. 6 and '7, a method of forming the gauging face of the straight edge 50.?similar to that above described is illustrated. In

portion of one face of the sheet on a rigid surextending parallel corrugations. In many cases, it is desirable that the corrugations on the outer face be somewhat smaller than those on the inner face, so that the cumulative effect is toproduce a general plane gauging face, having no transversely extending depressions or irregularities.

As described in my co-pending application, if it is desired to have the rib lelof greater depth at the center, the sheet may be cut accordingly wider at the central portion, tapering toward the ends. It is apparent from the foregoing description that the gauging face of the straight edge or templet formed by either of these methods is not only very precise and accurate, but is set so as to maintain its accuracy under various conditions of usage and degrees of temperature. 7 Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. A method of forming a straight edge tool from sheet metal stock, comprising supporting a face and impressing corrugations on the opposite face of the sheet to cause the metal to flow and effect set engagement of the entire first mentioned face with the said surface and folding the sheet into a hollow elongated body with the first mentioned face disposed outwardly thereof to form a gauging face. 7

2. A method. of forming a gauging face for a straight edge tool of the'character described from sheet metal stock, comprising supporting a longirugated surfaces for causing the metal of said 115,

strip to flow to effect conformation of one of said faces with one of said surfaces, and to set .said face of the strip in such conformation.

4. A method of forming a'straightedge tool of the character described from sheet metal alumi num, comprising supporting a portion of one face of the sheet on a smooth rigid surface-and impressing corrugations on the opposite face of the sheet to cause the metal'to flow and effect set engagement of the said portion of the first mentioned face with the plane surface overthe entire area thereof and folding the sheet into a hollow. elongated body with the firstmentioned face dis: posed outwardly thereof -to form a gauging surface.

- JASPER G. TULLIS 

